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Saturday, January 4, 2014

Entry 212: S.H.I.E.L.D. Update #6

That's right. We are finally underway on the final issue of S.H.I.E.L.D.

If you haven't been keeping up with my updates, you can get the whole story by going back and reading those.

After completing my Avengers commitment I emailed Jonathan, and all the editors involved with both SHIELD and Avengers saying that all that I wanted to do was finish SHIELD and could we do that. I was told that everyone wanted to finish it and that we would, but that Jonathan was hard at work on Infinity and SHIELD just wouldn't be happening till after that. So, I agreed to work on Infinity with the idea that SHIELD would come after that.

On October first, after completing my commitment to Infinity I sent this email to Jonathan and S.H.I.E.L.D. editor, Nick Lowe.

Once again I was reassured that we would be finishing it, but once again, there was no script. Also, they needed help with finishing Infinity #6 on time, so I jumped on that. Then they needed some help finishing Inhumanity #1, so, begrudgingly, jumped on that. Then I did variant covers for Avengers 25,26,&27, which was my idea, but at this point I wasn't sure I wanted to do it. (That's a whole other story:) You guys will like this.) Then Marvel offered me a gig that would have been a substantial and important one, but I turned it down. Which wasn't easy to do. I also turned down a cover job. Then they offered me another arc of Avengers. At this point, I emailed Jonathan. I needed to know if I should take the Avengers job or if we could do SHIELD. And then, after some back and forth, on December twenty third, Jonathan responded to me with this email.

It will actually be cool to return to finnish it after all this time. There will virtually be no deadline hanging over my head. Not that I'll take forever, but I'll be able to do it exactly how I want it without the pressure of a deadline… I'll do my very best on it.

HA! Yeah, In some way, everyone who has continued to ask about SHIELD has helped. If we just stopped making it and it seemed like none cared, it might have been a little heart breaking… I don't know that that would have stopped me from wanting to finish it, but knowing that peopled did care was helpful. I'll keep you posted on the progress.

This would be the perfect place to bust out that groundbreaking "Left-Handed Crayon Technique" you invented yesterday, and finally achieve your dream of surpassing Dark Knight Strikes Again's artistic excellence.

Crayons are an underrated art media. And the nice part about that new "left-handed crayon technique" is that I can use Lucy (my 4 year old) as an assistant. Our styles are seamless… Yeah, you know what, you're right. I'm going to do it. People probably won't get it at first, but years from now everyone will recognize it as a masterpiece. Just like they do with DKSA.

I've also been working on a newer technique where I draw a comic blindfolded… It's not ready yet.

I'm kind of wondering if Marvel will want to put out the individual issues or not… I think I'd like to see the issues come out before the collections. But yeah, hopefully will see a complete hardcover collection.

Like, I told you. Editors. There's a reason they're not actual writers, and they have a tendency to distract actual writers. Explore far beyond the Marvel publishing ecosystem when you finish this series. Can't wait to finish that motherfucker.

With these "updates" my intention isn't to illustrate how editors have gotten in the way of anything. Individually, I think every editor I've worked with at Marvel has been really great. They strive to give creators as much freedom as they can and help create books they can be proud of. It was editors who got SHIELD going to begin with. They want to make cool stuff. The problem is that Marvel is a corporate machine with a will of it's own. The editors, people in marketing, the writers, us artists, we are all cogs in the machine. It's goal is to make money. Avengers makes money. SHIELD, not as much. It's just a fact, no ones fault.

You're a really interesting guy, Weaver. Very accessible. And you rightly scapegoat the corporate whole over the human components. But why do I get the feeling from your missives that Hickman's script is just his favor to you? Always thought he was a fellow completist, yet there's a begrudging tone to the entire affair. Time constraints, yada yada. Couldn't Mr. Flagship have cashed in a few chips over there if he really wanted to finish this? I'm sure no one wants him slapping a few loose ends together to get us off your back.

Thanks for the comment and for noticing that I'm interesting. I've been giving this some thought. The thing is, I don't know what Jonathan is thinking and feeling about this-- not really. I don't really know what Jonathan or anyone at Marvel is feeling. What I do know is that, Shield is something Jonathan was, and likely still is, totally invested in. I would imagine that finally completing it will feel as good to him as it will me. I also know that time constraints are no joke. I got the sense that the work load on Jonathan during Infinity was possibly a little soul crushing. I know that Shield is happening now because Jonathan wants it to happen. It could have been forgotten and left by the wayside but it hasn't been. The fact that we are finishing it now after this long is pretty crazy. But talking about any of this is me speaking for Jonathan, or speaking to things I don't really know for sure.This blog is all me, it's all my perspective. I'm telling you what is going on from where I sit. I try to be fare to the people involved, but maybe I'm not doing as good a job as I should be. Ether this is a case of Jonathan, the editors at Marvel, and all of Marvel for that matter, saying fine we'll make these comics because Dustin really wants to and he won't shut up about it. Or I'm not the only one who wants to finish this comic.

I have to say that I read this (after googling to determine the status of this series) and I gained a ton of respect for you. I appreciate it when a creator shares in the mutual agony with the fans. I'm curious, how long after the work being completed does it take for it to be solicited? Is this highly variable or can we look for it around a certain time period?

I got this series last week, because I heart only praise about it. Although I want to point out that I knew that the last two issues aren't published (yet). (I have to confess that your art made it to a real must-buy!) I finished the (more or less) whole series today and it's freaking awesome. Great concepts, great art, great story and you, Sir, penciled two freaking great Celestials and an outstanding Nostradamus!I guess it will take some time again with Time Runs Out (great art by the way ;) ) and now Secret Wars in the making or whatever Marvel is planning with their uncanny cryptic announcements.

I don't want to complain -as I'm following Hickman's work for two years now and I'm a novelist by myself, so I really know how time consuming writing can be (I can only imagine how difficult it is for artists)-, but I honestly hope that it gets out before Secret Wars next May(?). Nevertheless I loved Hickman's and your work at this series and keep on, please!

Jay, Thank you for the comment and thank you for giving the series a shot. I'm going to do a new update on this series very soon… I think we'll be getting these last two issues out within a few months. Keep checking back here. Thanks again.

Hey, happy to read that! I browsed Hickman's twitter the other day and discovered that he already posted something about issue 6 some time ago. But I'm really excited to get your confirmation. I guess you had some work to do in the last months.I also showed your Nostradamus splash panel (issue vol 1 #2) to my girlfriend. Normally she doesn't like Hickman's stuff that much, but she only made big eyes and said 'Wow!', when she saw that page. She also was impressed by that first depiction of your Celestial Madonna and your Leonardo at the top of your site. I think soon she's buying the whole concept thanks to your art.I don't know if you guys in the US know that comic, but in Europe there is that French comic series called "Das Einhorn" (that's its German name; 'The Unicorn' / from Mathieu Gabella & Anthony Jean) which is... not similar to your stuff, but I couldn't help to complare it to your work, because we got there some guys from the Renaissance running around -among them da Vinci and Nostradamus. My girlfriend and I think that your characters look better in many ways, because they are so... don't know how to express it... so unexpected and familiar at the same time. I would say you depicted these "old guys" in a new light. I liked that idea that Hickman and you handled them as super heroes in their own right within that Marvel Universe context (who said that the Marvel Age started with the Fantastic Four?). In my eyes it was/is interesting to see how these historical greats became godlike figures themselves in this post-modern myth systems called comic books.

Although I didn't find neither an American nor at least English version of aforesaid 'The Unicorn', I would recommend it to Hickman and you nonetheless, if it got published anywhere. I guess it would be interesting for you and him -without doubt!

At last I want to express my wish that you may take the responsibility for one or two issues at New Avengers during its 'Everything Dies'/'Time Runs Out' era. I always read it first, when it gets published and I think your art style would fit to characters and theme -as you've proven it in S.H.I.E.L.D. Vol 1-2. But I guess that's an Marvel intern thing -but it would be freaking awesome without any doubt.Nevertheless I wish you all the best and enjoy your work with SHIELD #6 or any other stuff you're doing.Greetings and you're welcome,Jay L.

Did you see this update from this past October? http://dustinweaver.blogspot.com/2014/10/entry-252-shield-update-7.htmlI know that that news is now 4 months old. I'll hopefully have some new news soon:)Thanks for continuing to be interested in this. I'm still doing what I can to make sure it happens.

Luc, thanks so much for liking S.H.I.E.L.D. and asking about it. I have some news about it that I haven't had the chance to post about here on my blog. The news is that it is all done (I did blog about that) and that it will be out September 2015. It looks like Marvel will re-release Volume 2 #1-4 in a big catch-up issue then they will put out issue 5 and 6 separately. I'm very excited about it, and in my excitement I started this tumblr sight http://hickmanweavershield.tumblr.com/ Lots of behind the scenes stuff there.Thanks again